French foreign minister's son charged with forgery
Thomas Fabius, son of French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, has been charged with forgery in connection with his passion for gambling. According to judicial sources, he was also named as a “temoin assiste” – an intermediary status between that of a witness and someone who has been charged – in connection with fraud, tax laundering, breach of trust and misuse of corporate assets.
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The 34-year-old has run into legal problems over gambling, with an investigation into his financial affairs opened in late 2011 following a complaint by French bank Societe Generale.
According to a source close to the investigation, the bank accused him of writing a forged email while in Morocco, allegedly from his bank adviser, which allowed a Moroccan casino to believe he was about to receive 200,000 euros.
Investigators have also been looking into his purchase of a seven million euro apartment in the heart of Paris in 2012.
Thomas Fabius also has had an arrest warrant issued against him by the Nevada state court in late October related to writing bad cheques totaling more than 3.2 million euros to cover gambling debts in several Las Vegas casinos in mid-2012.
In mid-December, he was questioned as part of a probe into forgery, fraud and money laundering.
-with AFP
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